Princess of a Pauper
by XionAmmy
Summary: An infant is abandoned in a forest, but saved by a hunter. Her twin continues to the castle, where her father  /THE KING!/  lives. What happens when the two meet once again? Slight Roxas x OC, rated for language and saftey, but may rise later. ON HIATUS!
1. How the Princess Became a Pauper

**This story is not set in the normal stream of reality for medieval times or Renaissance Era times. The subtle importance of girls (beyond their ability to produce offspring) is recognized, which it really wasn't back then. The royal family doesn't seem upset or even slightly worried that they have two children, even though no male children means no way to carry on the family name and no immediately related heir to the throne until one of the two gets married. Oh yes, and peasants can read. If you have a problem with that, too bad. This is my story, so you're just going to have to deal with the inconsistancies.**

**It also refuses to conform to the normal stream of reality by allowing children to be ready to leave their parents in under a week, letters arriving within days of being written, and week-old infants having memories, faint or clear, of each other.**

**Now that that's out of the way, on to the disclaimer, then the story!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts company, games, or characters. I don't pretend to be an expert on REAL medieval/Renaissance practices, traditions, or ways of life. I do, however, own this particular storyline and the characters, Xion and Ammy. Some characters will act slightly out-of-character due to necessity for storyline or lack of expert knowledge on characters. I am not an expert of psychology, nor do I claim to be one.**

**One Final Note: anything written in italics is either a flashback or a given character's personal thoughts. These will not be marked to indicate what they are separately. Flashbacks will have quotations, usually, and will be separated from current actions in their own paragraphs. The personal thoughts of various characters, however, will simply be fitted into the paragraphs for the most part.**

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**-~-~-Chapter One – How the Princess Became a Pauper-~-~-**

The horse slowed to a stop. The cloaked man on its back slid off and turned to face the two infants he and the horse were transporting to the king's castle.

The hood of the man's cloak shielded his face from view as he silently studied the infant twin girls, frustrated by his orders.

"_My wife sent a letter. As you know, she moved to the castle we inhabit for the summer so she may have the comfort of a mild climate. She gave birth to a pair of beautiful twin girls, named Xion and Amaterasu, a week ago, and our children have finally been deemed prepared to make the trip to this castle. My wife will stay at the other castle for a week or so more, and then she will return as well," the king said to his most trusted advisor. "I am trusting you to bring my daughters here safely. Be very careful with them, especially Amaterasu. According to the letter, she is exceptionally small and delicate. Do you understand?"_

"… _Yes, sire, I understand," the advisor responded, eyes shaded._

"_Good," the king said, nodding slightly. "I expect you to dress so as not to stand out and attract the attention of any robbers or highwaymen in the area. I do not wish to lose my children."_

"_Of course, sire. I will head out immediately," the advisor replied._

The queen, of course, already had a nickname for the younger of the two twins. The twins were already inseparable, and could only be separated if both were asleep – if Xion were awake, she would panic and attempt, in any way possible, to return to her sister's side. If Ammy were awake, she would begin to cry loud enough to wake the dead - or her sister.

The younger twin, Amaterasu, was called Ammy by the queen. She was diminutive, but her smaller build only seemed to make her quieter and more intelligent despite her young age.

The firstborn, Xion, seemed almost as clever as Ammy was. She also seemed to be more impulsive, despite the fact that her young age should have made the impulsive nature of the girl much less evident, if it was even evident at all.

The king's advisor gave a sick, twisted smile. _Amaterasu won't last very long anyway, even with the royal physician's skill and expertise. I might as well make her death quicker, maybe even a bit less painful. I can blame it on highwaymen, or perhaps robbers… After all, it's not as if the king will ever find out…_

He smirked. As far as he was concerned, Amaterasu's fate was sealed. Even if a hunter found her, the only identification she had was a clay pendant on a soft leather strip, and even that only had her nickname. She would never be identified as a princess, especially since they were traveling in peasant's clothing to prevent themselves from being recognized on the way home.

He left the infant, wrapped in a simple blanket, in a simple traveling basket, which he left on a rock, before he climbed back on his horse and galloped off with Xion.

Thirty seconds after the king's advisor left with Xion, Amaterasu awoke from her slumber. Blinking, the tiny girl seemed to somehow sense that she was alone, her sister was gone, and no one was coming back to get her. After a momentary pause, she began to cry, quietly at first, but they grew to extremely loud wails over time.

Perhaps it was Amaterasu's lucky day, after all. A passing hunter heard her cries and came to her aid.

The hunter was a young man who longed to raise a child with his wife, whom, as they had recently discovered, was unable to carry children. Was this some kind of godsend, finding this beautiful baby girl in the woods? He scooped her up in his arms, rocking her slowly until she at last stopped crying and fell asleep once more. He held the clay pendant around her neck in his hand, examining it.

"Ammy… is that your name?" he asked the sleeping infant quietly. He was going to have to assume so, since she couldn't exactly tell him herself.

A flash of silver caught his eye. Clutched in the infant's left hand was a necklace with a silver cross pendant on it. The pendant was on a silky black ribbon. _I wonder why would she have something like this,_ the hunter mused internally.

Meanwhile, back at the king's palace, the advisor entered the throne room, his head bowed in mock mourning.

"Your majesty, on the way back, I was attacked by a band of highwaymen. They grabbed Amaterasu and ran off. I couldn't stop them, sire, I'm sorry. I fear she may be dead by now," he said solemnly, his voice practically dripping with false sympathy and grief.

"I escaped safely with Xion, but…" the advisor began, cutting himself off when he noticed tears forming in the king's eyes. "S-sire…?"

The king took a few moments to calm himself. "I understand…" the king murmured, holding back the tears that were fighting to escape. "May I see Xion now?"

"Of… of course, sire, right this way," the advisor murmured, struggling not to sigh in relief. The king had believed him, thank goodness. He was pleased at his luck, the luck he was **not** going to take for granted.

**-~-~-End Chapter-~-~-**

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**I know, you're probably dying to know why the king's advisor hated Ammy so much, but I'm not going to tell you~! You'll have to keep reading to find out!**


	2. Fourteen Years

**Chapter two! Yay!**

**I have a few more things to add, before I can move on to the disclaimer and the story.**

**If you see a number written in bold and italics, it means there's something that means something else (hidden meanings FTW!) that I feel the need to explain so you can better understand the story. Anything marked with A/N written in bold is something I feel you *****need***** to understand immediately so as to understand the story as a whole.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts company, games, or characters. I don't pretend to be an expert on REAL medieval/Renaissance practices, traditions, or ways of life. I do, however, own this particular storyline and the characters, Xion and Ammy. Some characters will act slightly out-of-character due to necessity for storyline or lack of **_**expert**_** knowledge on characters.**

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**-~-~-Chapter Two – Fourteen Years-~-~-**

Xion stared out the window of her bedroom, thinking about her sister again. The young princess sighed. It had been nearly fourteen years since the other princess had vanished. Xion knew it was extremely likely that she was dead by now, but… she still had the feeling that Ammy was alive, somehow.

She shuddered, thinking of her father's advisor. 'What a creep…' she thought to herself. He always gave her this weird look, like he had told her a big secret and couldn't trust her to keep it. What was up with that? Was there more to Amaterasu's disappearance than that man was letting on?

Could he have done something weird to her when she was little? After all, Xion _was_ considered "pretty" by many of the royal children she met. Her onyx colored eyes held a sparkle that dulled significantly whenever Ammy came up in conversation or Xion thought about Ammy for any reason. Xion's jet-black hair shone gently, making it all the more beautiful depending on the lighting. Her clothing of choice included multiple dresses, of various designs, which were made of a combination of soft black, dark gray, and slightly-darker-than-usual bronze fabric. The combined dark coloration of her clothing, hair, and eyes made her pale skin seem almost white in color, which was actually a pretty good look on her. The only thing bright and shiny in the whole ensemble, however, was her necklace. A golden ankh on a simple silver chain, the one thing she always wore, hung at her neck, even when she was sleeping.

Within Xion's closet, a single dress rebelled against her usual color choices. This dress was silver and white, with gold ankhs and silver crosses embroidered along the edges. Giving up on trying to picture it in her mind's eye, reminding her of hope that needed rekindling, she crossed the room and flung open the doors of her wardrobe.

The dress had taken her forever to make, simply because she couldn't let either of her parents, or her father's advisor for that matter, see it. They would probably burn it, or otherwise destroy it. To her, the dress symbolized hope. The hope that her sister would finally come home. She smoothed the soft fabric gently with her fingers, proud of her handiwork. She kept it well-maintained, fixing even the most minute issues.

Slowly, almost painfully, she closed the doors and dragged herself away from the wardrobe. Returning to her position at the window, she sighed.

Fourteen years. It had been fourteen long years since Ammy vanished. Her mood was worsening, bit by bit, day by day. How much longer until she got solid, concrete proof?

**-~-~-End Chapter-~-~-**

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**Another chapter is up. Origionally, this chapter was... about twice as long, maybe? I dunno. I'll upload it... once I get it typed up... which might take a while, you know?**

**Anyway, review please~  
If you actually know me in real life, I decided to change a few things from the original (as if you couldn't tell, ja?), so don't complain.  
And please, we're online, so DON'T USE MY REAL NAME!**

**XionAmmy out!**

***NEW NOTICE!* No one ever reviews this... ever... so it's on hiatus until I get FIVE positive reviews that are NOT requests for me to continue writing.**


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